Bungie has delayedMarathonindefinitely.Marathonis an upcoming extraction shooter from the same studio behind mega-popular FPS games likeHaloandDestiny. Unfortunately,Marathonhas not received nearly the same kind of warm welcome as Bungie’s past franchises enjoyed. The game has found itself at the center of an art plagiarism controversy, and its Alpha test didn’t exactly light the world on fire.
It was recently discovered thatMarathonfeatured plagiarized art, allegedly added to the game by someone who is no longer at Bungie. This soured the already lukewarm public reception of the upcoming extraction shooter, and when the game no-showed at the latest PlayStation State of Play event, many saw the writing on the wall. As expected, Bungie has confirmed it is pushingMarathon’s launch back to an undetermined date in the future.
Marathonwas originally going to launch on September 23, but Bungie has hit the game with an indefinite delay. WhileMarathonis not canceled, Bungie is not ready to commit to a new release date, and it’s unclear exactly when the game will be released. It’s possibleMarathonwill still launch in 2025, but it’s also possible that the game will be delayed to 2026. Bungie has said it will share an update onMarathonthis fall that will also include news on the game’s release date, so while we have no idea when it will launch, we should know more within the next 4-5 months.
Bungie’s statementonMarathon’s indefinite release date delay revealed what the studio plans to do with the extra development time. Bungie has confirmed that it will be makingMarathon’s AI opponents “more challenging and engaging,” while making runs more rewarding by introducing new types of loot and dynamic events. Bungie also hopes to makeMarathoncombat “more tense and strategic.” Additionally, Bungie wants to double down on the"MarathonUniverse" through improved graphics, more storytelling, and a darker tone.
MarathonAlpha feedback is also leading Bungie to add more “social experiences” to the game, accomplished through “better player experience” for solo and duos modes and the addition of proximity chat.Marathon’s lack of proximity chatwas one of the big complaints that fans of the extraction shooter genre had, and so many will be happy to see that it’s being addressed.
It’s unclear if this will be enough to turn around the negative public reception thatMarathonhas received since its Alpha test. Bungie has an incredibly impressive track record, but parent company PlayStation hasn’t always had the best luck with live-service games, cancelingThe Last of Usmultiplayer game andshuttingConcorddown mere days after it launched. Time will tell howMarathon’s launch will go, but the extra time in the oven should put it in a better position to succeed whenever it does release.
